Kien Chen
Lieutenant Commander Kien Chen (callsign Bossman, formerly Ripper) was a Terran Confederation pilot assigned to the during the Terran-Kilrathi War. He cooperated in the Vega Campaign, Operation: Thor's Hammer, and the liberation of Firekka. as Charles''Painted on side of the Rapier 13 prop in the movie., in the novelization and ''Pilgrim Stars as Vince, Pilgrim Stars, pg and in the Terran Confederation Handbook both as KienHandbook, p. 5 and Vince, while in one occasion his name seems reversed (Chen "Bossman" Kien). Although he is based on and intended to be the Kien Chen of the original game, he is mentioned to be dead in the prequels.}} Background Kien Chen was born in Kaoshiung, Taiwan on Earth. He was a pilot for the Terran Confederation since 2637. He also had a degree in aeronautical engineering from the Confederation Net university system. Chen had a reckless and aggressive character against the Kilrathi bogeys, and was called "Ripper". However seeing new pilots trying to imitate him (and being not so lucky as him) he decided to give a different example by leading a different philosophy; and he became a model pilot. Thus, he became a source of reliable advice to his comrades, and his splendid leadership in combat, he took the callsign "Bossman". By 2654 he married to ergonomics engineer Mingxing Chen and that March, he became the father of a baby girl in 2653. He held the rank of Major by the time he was assigned to the . Pilgrim Uprising Chen was considered an invaluable pilot, a gifted natural leader of his squadron, giving instructions to the younger pilots and advicing officers. He was a close friend to Jeannette Deveraux. By the time he was a Lieutenant Commander he was the third highest-ranking ace in this squadron by kill-count. He counted a score of 2 capital ship kills and 26 fighter kills and awarded the Bronze Star for valor in the face of the enemy. He was pilot of Rapier 35. , his Rapier is seen to have painted the number 13 (see Rapier 13) and bears marks of 30 kills.}} Carl T. LaFong first met him when he came on board the Tiger's Claw after leaving the . Confederation records reported that on 2654.070, while the Claw was was conducting sweeps of routes known to be frequented by Kilrathi spies and pirates in the Roberts Quadrant of the Vega Sector, Chen commanded a wing of four Rapiers for the regular afternoon patrol. 24 minutes later his wing detected and engaged a Kilrathi corvette escorted by three Dralthis. Bossman killed 2 of the Dralthi and successfully coordinated the assault against the corvette, having suffered some damage. The report claims Bossman sent 2 of the Rapiers with damaged weapons and communication systems back to the Claw and stayed behind to escort the last ship, piloted by William Jefferson, which had damaged engines. Then he encountered a patrol of 4 Dralthi. Jefferson was easily destroyed and Bossman managed to destroy some of the attackers. However, his engines were damaged and caused an overload in the reactor core; for some reason Bossman did not eject and was killed instantly by the radiation. It was claimed that his fighter was recovered, decontaminated and his body buried at space. Jason Sansky recommended Chen be posthumously awarded the Red Comet for pilots honorably killed in action, and a second Bronze Star, in accordance with the highest standards of Space Force honor and valor. leaving behind a wife and a little daughter who would never know him. Christopher Blair came as his replacement. and the accompanying publications. Ths is odd as he is one of the main characters in the original which takes place later, during the Vega Campaign. No explanation of his "death" and subsequent "survival" was given. It is interesting to note that Chen's character is surrounded by several inconsistencies, not the least of which is his variety of names (Kien in the game, Charles in the movie prop, Vince in the Handbook); these, coupled with the "classified" nature of his last fateful mission, might suggest that there is more than it seems.}} Vega Campaign He became a good friend of Christopher Blair, Carl T. LaFong and Jason Armstrong, who were that time was a rookie pilots. Bossman used his knowledge gained from flying to help Blair, LaFong and other new pilots in the field. During the Vega Campaign, the Confed turned to the offensive and the Claw entered the Kurasawa system against the Kilrathi bases. Bossman flew the Theta Wing with Carl T. LaFongWC1&2G, pgStar*Soldier, 26 in Rapiers in order to engage three transports arriving to supply the bases, including a command staff ship. The pair also flew later in a mission to escort a captured to the Claw in order to assist with the sieges however they failed to protect it.The Memoirs of Lieutenant Colonel Carl T. LaFong Finally, they successfully managed to escort the to the Claw. then escort two to the Claw for refueling . Finally, while the Claw was defending Hubble's Star IV, they went to recon a flight of Krants and then had to defend the Claw against an assault led by Bakhtosh nar Kiranka. According to The Memoirs of Lieutenant Colonel Carl T. LaFong these missions were done by pilots of the .}} Goddard Campaign He was also one of the few believers in the capture of , an Destroyer the Kilrathi were using to attack human ships. His belief in the ship's existence proved true when Blair destroyed the vessel during a mission in Operation: Thor's Hammer in 2655. With LaFong they flew a Scimitar in the Midgard system as Delta Wing, with the task to destroy so that it wouldn't fall in Kilrathi hands and during the mission they engaged a . Soon after, flying as Gamma Wing, they escorted a Dralthi that was captured by the Reavers back to the Claw. Firekka Campaign Bossman was in the Firekka System at the time that the Kilrathi invaded the defenseless planet. He hoped to bring his family to see the planet on a holiday after Confed removed the Kilrathi from the planet. Tragically, he did not live to see that day. Bossman was flying alongside Major Jeannette Devereaux on a patrol on 2655.271 when the Kilrathi Imperial Guard attacked them. Bossman was killed while trying to save Angel's life, who managed to get away. Bossman's death was a devastating loss for the Claw, since they had gotten used to taking advice from him. Angel kept blaming herself for Bossman's death and it was a while before she forgave herself. Bossman is survived by his wife, Mingxing, and a daughter who was born in 2653. As of 2655, they live in San Francisco, California. Personality In his younger days, Bossman had been a pilot who liked to push everything to the limit, comparing himself to Hunter, until he decided to make a better example. He would be found in the bar shuffling a deck of cards, and his name was seen among the TrainSim top scores. Behind the scenes When Bossman dies in WCI, these words are heard in his funeral: Pilgrim Truth establishes that extrakinetics such as Pilgrims or others mutant humans may be able to develop the ability to project themselves in more place than once, not create clones per se but create doubles, multiples of dopplegangers each physically existing and each part of the whole. This is used to explain how one pilot Mango is able to attack Christopher Blair's fighter, and is shot down. Some believe he had died, but Blair believes he has seen him elsewhere. Blair suggests extrakinetics as an explanation of him being in more than one place at once as well as appearing to die, but not actually dieing, and coming back later. He points this out as a theory, but has no way of knowing if it really would happen. This ability may be both natural instinct or even controllable. Also adding the ability to project these individual beings into other places (sort of like teleportation) This appears to be a nod to the fans speculations about dead or disappearing characters coming back; to offer an explanation to a number of characters with similar discrepancies such as Knight, Kien Chen, Shamus and Delli Taggart, etc (it could even apply to Blair's "disappearance" during the Nephilim War allowing the possibility for his return, as he shows the ability to pull it off in the book). Category:Terran Confederation pilots Category:Humans